3 JUN 06: P.H.D. CANDIDATES

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this humorous, serious, or a little of both - but from time to time, we offer things to reflect upon as we keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)

Beacon University presented its first two doctorate degrees Friday night. But even though a Christian college did this, some Christians who are skeptical of higher education will be unimpressed. To them, a Ph. D. is short for "piled higher and deeper" - as in, well, you know....

Some people have suggested I go to graduate school, and become a college instructor. But that would cost some money and take some time -- and I really don't have much of either these days. I'm focused on starting Power Frisbee, which I suppose college undergraduates might appreciate even more.

Yet there's a chance for many people like me to have a "PHD" experience this weekend. I didn't realize it until I checked a schedule at the church I attend - and there was the abbreviation for Sunday. PHD stands for "Pentecost Holy Day."

We'll have no post on Sunday, because we'll be marking this PHD. According to Jewish tradition, it marks the time when Moses received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai - and isn't it amazing how that law takes far fewer pages than the U.S. tax code?

For New Testament Christians, Pentecost marks the day in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit entered disciples and the "church era" began. The Spirit descended like flames of fire - but sadly, too many smart-alecks in Alabama have taken this passage literally this year.

If you go to a Pentecost service, you may not walk out the door with a Ph. D. - but at least you'll have attended one. And if you attend the right congregation, you'll hopefully walk out wiser and smarter for it. Knowledge is something we slowly gain - no matter what those pop-up ads offering instant degrees claim.

SCHEDULED MONDAY: Was it chaos downtown? Was it nothing? Or was it something in between?

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